Climate Science Glossary

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All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

A mandate to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 30% below business-as-usual levels by 2020, and by 50% below 2000 levels by 2050.

A stipulation that 35% of the country's electricity should come from renewable sources by 2024.

Mandatory emissions reporting by the country's largest polluters.

Establishment of a climate change commission to oversee implementation of the bill.

Encouragement to develop a carbon-trading scheme.

The legislation passed with bipartisan support, with a vote of 128-10 in the lower house, and unanimous support in the Mexican Senate (78-0), putting the political climate partisanship in the USA to shame.

Implemented and planned climate change actions in some major emitting economies. Blue represents a sub-national action, pink represents a planned national action, and red represents an implemented national action.

So the good news is that while we have failed to reach an international agreement following the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol, quite a few nations are nevertheless taking action into their own hands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. And where national action has thus far failed (as in the USA and Canada), some local governments are stepping up and implementing their own climate mitigation policies.

Thus there is still reason for hope that we can at least avoid catastrophic climate change, and with enough continued climate mitigation momentum, we might still be able to avoid surpassing the 2°C 'danger limit'. As Michael Mann noted,

"It is still possible to avoid 2-degree warming, and arguing it is too late could very easily be a self-fulfilling prophecy. That having been said, the real issue is whether or not we have the political will."

"Changes like this [climate policy] don’t occur in a linear way. The potential for change builds up, unmanifested, until it reaches a critical mass. You don’t always see it coming. There are plenty of examples of that. I believe we’re seeing just that kind of movement just beneath the surface here in the U.S....I’m not saying we’re right on the tipping point. I know better than that. But neither do I think it’s accurate to say that we’re stuck in neutral....a lot of countries around the world are looking at their hold cards, they’re looking at the damage, and it is now translating into a set of commitments that are meaningful and will continue."

"Even doubling our current rate of decarbonisation, would still lead to emissions consistent with 6 degrees of warming by the end of the century. To give ourselves a more than 50% chance of avoiding 2 degrees will require a six-fold improvement in our rate of decarbonisation."

The full report in pdf format can be downloaded from a link at the bottom of the page linked above.